Determining Hardware Software And Network Requirements

Once user requirements are defined, hardware/software/network requirements can be established. These requirements are used to determine the processing platform and networking for the system. Factors that determine the appropriate platform(s) are existing/strategic network infrastructure, number of concurrent users, size of the database, and volume of transactions. There is typically no "right" platform to use and many IS personnel have differing opinions. In addition, vendors are always announcing new releases with new features, making it difficult to distinguish existing product features versus vaporware. Beware of technologies and methodologies that introduce new terms and vernaculars that provide a smoke screen for poor project management and lack of expertise. Hopefully, a best approach is chosen considering cost, systems performance, and ease of development. Typically, the requirements are documented in an architecture document that include:

■ Business requirements

■ Tactical considerations

■ Strategic considerations

■ Interfaces with other systems

No one hardware/software platform will "fit" all applications, just as a hammer alone will not build a house. However, no small part of the platform choice should be what platforms the developers are familiar with. Familiarity with the platforms chosen will improve the accuracy of the estimates and help ensure that "system killer" problems will not be encountered later. It is too risky to use unproven technologies as a platform for large development projects.

A potential bottleneck with client/server systems is the network capacity and traffic between the user workstation and the server. Many times, these systems are expected to perform over wide area networks (WANs) that may not provide consistent network response times.

What you need to know about… Project Management Made Easy! Project management consists of more than just a large building project and can encompass small projects as well. No matter what the size of your project, you need to have some sort of project management. How you manage your project has everything to do with its outcome.